BBC Reporter Approaches "Man on the Street" Who Happens to be Henry Winkler

Well, this is brilliant from start to finish. A BBC reporter surveying the locals on their feelings about a possible expansion to Heathrow Airport approached a likely candidate on the sidewalk…only to find out it was Henry Winkler. James Landale, a deputy political editor, immediately became tongue-tied and flustered in front of the Happy Days and Arrested Development star (who can blame him, though—it’s the Fonz!), and the results were amazing. Watch for yourself:

Winkler couldn’t have been funnier if he’d tried, right down to the “I’m relaxed” bit at the end. Afterward, Landale was a good sport, recognizing the absurdity of asking the American actor whether he had a vote or whether he was staying in England. In a post on the BBC website, he talked about the encounter and confirmed that it was indeed a totally random coincidence:

Anyway, there I was, getting into my stride when suddenly a middle aged man hove in to view, scarf round his neck, shopping bags to hand.

He looked a promising interviewee so I lunged forward, began my spiel and immediately realised I was addressing no less a figure than the Fonz.

Instantly I became a gabbling, star-struck idiot, asking if he had a vote here (doh! he’s an American actor), how his pantomime was going and even if he had a view on Heathrow (what was I thinking?).

Good stuff, James, and take solace in the fact that you provided the Internet with one of its funniest organic moments of the holiday season. Cheers!